Joseph Deninzon has established himself as a versatile, on-demand electric and acoustic violinist, mandolinist, guitarist, singer and composer. A musician who transcends many genres, he has recorded and performed with a variety of artists including Sheryl Crow, Everclear, Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple, Smokey Robinson, Johnny Matthis, Les Paul, Phoebe Snow, Jane Monheit, and recently with Bruce Springsteen at Madison Square Garden. Joe is also the co-creator and musical director for the off-Broadway hit show, “Spider Dance” with renowned percussionist, Alessandra Belloni. He has made repeat appearances at the Grand Canyon Music Festival with Harmonica virtuoso Robert Bonfiglio. Joe was a winner of the John Lennon International Songwriting Competition with a song he contributed to the soundtrack for the film, What’s Up Scarlet (open City Entertainment). He has been featured in publications such as Jazziz, Downbeat, and Relix magazine, among others. An 11-time BMI Composer’s grant recipient, Joe’s music has been featured on CMT, VH1, ABC, Comedy Central, the Travel Channel, History Channel, Food network, and National Geographic.
Critics have hailed Mr. Deninzon as “The Jimi Hendrix of the Violin”, because of his innovative style on the electric seven-string violin and his compositions combining jazz and rock with Gypsy influences. In addition to his work as a sideman, Joe is the lead singer and electric violinist with the band, Stratospheerius. The group has released four CD’s to international acclaim, and were named “Best Jam Band” in the Musician’s Atlas Independent Music Awards. The group has toured extensively; sharing stages with Mickey Hart, John Scofield, Tim Reynolds, and Mike Stern among others, and has developed a reputation for their explosive live performances. Currently, Stratospheerius is mixing their new CD, due out next year.
Joe can be heard on over a hundred recordings as a violinist and string arranger, most recent of which include The Kin with legendary producer Jack Douglas, Erika Rose, and Sevenwiser. In addition to his many diverse projects, Joe Deninzon has recently made his debut with the New York City Ballet performing “Red Angels”, based on “Maxwell’s Demon”; a piece for solo electric violin and dancers written by Richard Einhorn. He has also performed at Symphony Space in New York with legendary percussionists Jamie Hadaad (Paul Simon, Dave Liebman), Gordon Gottleib (Steely Dan, Miles Davis), and bansuri flutist Steve Gorn (Paul Simon, Ravi Shankar).
Joe’s most recent original projects include “Headspace”, the latest Stratospheerius CD, which has been described by critics as “…A spirited journey into outrageous creativity.” He new jazz trio with guitarist Steve Benson and bassist Bob Bowen has just released their debut CD, “Exuberance”, which combines original music influenced by the Gypsy jazz of Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt with covers by Radiohead, Chopin, Steely Dan, and Alice in Chains.
In addition to being an active performer, Joe has taught privately since the age of 13, and has given clinics addressing string improvisation and using effects for electric strings at Berklee College of Music, The New School University, and the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference, for which he received an award for “Outstanding contribution in Jazz Education”. He has been on the staff at The New School, International Studio of Music in NYC, and as director of the Advanced Jazz Ensemble at the Dwight School, which has performed at Carnegie Hall. In the summer of 2010, he will be the new Rock Violin instructor at Marc O’Connor’s renowned String Camp in New York City. He is also currently working on a book, CD, and DVD for Mel Bay Publications, due out next year, which will address improvisation techniques for the violin in the genres of jazz, blues, rock, and funk, and also talks about electric violins, amplification, and working with effects.
The son of classical musicians, Joe was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. His family emigrated to the United states when he was 4 years old and settled in Cleveland, OH, where his father took a job as a violinist with the Cleveland Orchestra. Crowing up in Cleveland, Joe studied classical violin with his father and at the Cleveland Institute of Music. At age 12, he was seduced by rock n roll, and started listening to bands like Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Queen, U2, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and Steve Vai. Joe taught himself guitar and bass, and started playing and singing with various bands in the Cleveland area.
At age 16, Joe saw Miles Davis on his final tour and was inspired to study jazz. His life was transformed when he first heard recordings of Stephane Grappelli Jean-Luc Ponty, and especially, Jerry Goodman of the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Around this time, local singer/songwriter Michael Stanley had seen Joe perform and asked him to join him onstage the legendary Front Row Theatre in Cleveland. Having only improvised on guitar and bass while keeping a strictly classical repertoire on the violin, Joe found that translating the musical language of jazz and rock to the violin came easy to him. The concert was a critically acclaimed success, and set him on his path in life.
Joe received a Bachelor’s Degree in Jazz and Classical violin at Indiana University, where he studied with the legendary violinist, Josef Gingold and jazz guru David Baker, and met his future wife Yulia Ziskel, who is currently a member of the New York Philharmonic.
In 1997, Joe moved to New York to pursue a Masters degree in Jazz at Manhattan School of Music. He currently lives right outside of NYC in Dumont, New Jersey with his wife and their son, Max, and keeps a busy schedule teaching, composing, recording, and performing worldwide.
“As at home in the world of Grappelli and O'Connor as he is in the world of Steve Vai and Jimi Hendrix, Joe Deninzon may very well be our next national violin treasure.”
-Jedd Beaudoin (seaoftranquility.com)
Publicity: Anne Leighton: 718-881-8183
Email: leightonmedia@aol.com
Contact: D-Zone Entertainment
917-648-8071
email: info@joedeninzon.com
